49 Best Home Library Ideas for 2025

A custom, double-height bookcase was installed in this West Village townhome to mimic the one designer Nate Berkus has in his own space. Symmetrical square alcoves are filled with color-coordinated books. While largely for display only, you can’t deny that this stairwell makes an incredible impact.

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In this sitting room by Stephanie Sabbe, the homeowner was looking for a destination to host her monthly book clubs. Built-in bookcases were added around the window frame, and a cozy pink seat can fit a sitter or two.

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The key to an excellent home library is to have room to grow. In this Texas home, designers Hilary Colia and Jennifer Kostohryz of Fort Design Studio ensured there were plenty of empty shelves for the family to grow their collection of lit. For now, vintage finds and sentimental photos line the eggplant-hued built-ins.

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A good book’s greatest companions are a nice cocktail and a comfortable chair. In this ‘English snug’ featured in our 2024 Whole Home, designer Anne McDonald envisioned a space where you could read and get away from it all. Boasting a dry bar, moody lighting, and cozy colors, this space envelops you in a calming energy.

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To make your home library pop, consider painting your bookshelves a statement shade. Here, the design duo French & French opted for a deep red to contrast with the room’s white walls and eye-catching blue ceiling.

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When you’re tight on space but still want to include a designated area for your books, combine two rooms into one. Designer CeCe Barfield Thompson merged the dining room and library in this Manhattan apartment to make the most of the space. “It’s more of a nighttime room,” she says. “This room had the least sun exposure in the apartment and by painting it a dark color, that contrast actually helps to make the space feel lighter.” Plus, it’ll make those late nights up reading all the more cozy.

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It only makes sense to have your working desk alongside your bookshelves, but what about within your bookshelves? Designer Drew McGuckin created the ideal work zone when he added a desk, cabinets, and bookshelves to this little nook.

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Make your bookshelves a bit more charming by adding in traditional design features, like the painted latticework at the bottom of these shelves. Elizabeth Hay, a designer based in Singapore who’s from the UK, needed a home base when visiting relatives, so she transformed a neutral-colored English cottage into a colorful retreat. The trellises add beautiful character and dimension to the space.

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Architect Eric Smith created this gallery of bookshelves lined with 1,700 volumes of poetry that leads to a writing room surrounded by nature, providing a calming space for escape and self-reflection. Smith explains the goal “was to create a built expression of an artist’s creative process, from start to finish.” He adds that “the poet’s desk is centrally located in the 180-degree view, [and] the forest surrounds you at mid-tree height.”

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Greens, blues, and other cooler shades are ideal to use in a relaxing room. Follow in designer Gina Sims’s footsteps for your own library and choose a muted green for the walls and a pale blue couch that’s as cozy as it is stylish.

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The touches of gold along the shelves of this built-in bookcase add a stunning, unexpected pop of brightness to the dark, moody room in this Texas renovation. Besides the shelves, Sydney Manning from interior design firm Marie Flanigan added gold picture frames and sconces as well to this space, connecting the finishes throughout this room.

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Embrace quirky, unexpected desires in your own home. Traditional libraries tend to be made up of dark woods and moody accents, but this vibrant space by Katie Ridder challenges that vision. Many aspects of this project were unconventional, like discussing paint colors with the client during the first design meeting, but Ridder’s client knew she wanted a bold, green library from the start.

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If peace and quiet isn’t your ideal reading environment, then put a TV along with your bookshelves to give you some constant background noise. Designer Elaine Santos created this communal family room perfect for the avid reader and those who prefer their media in screen form alike.

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No room for an entire library? No problem—you can still create a styled reading nook to house your books and your comfiest, vintage chair. The white flashes in the rug and blanket pull together the white bookshelf in this otherwise moody and dark space by designer Shavonda Gardner.

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Whether you’re cheering for your favorite team or you’re reminiscing on college football careers of the past, like Sherrell Neal’s client, then consider repping your team even in your home library. “Providing my clients floor-to-ceiling work-from-home solutions personalized to their needs converted this formerly untouched front room into a space for the entire family to enjoy and curate their proudest moments,” the designer said.

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One way to make a new furnishing feel more suited to your home is by incorporating older pieces. In the case of Thiara Borges’s clients, the majority of the design budget went to creating these custom built-ins for the library, but she helped make the brand new shelves feel more meaningful by adding in family heirlooms throughout and in the surrounding area.

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Balance your books with playful patterns, layered art, and an assortment of accessories to create the ultimate welcoming, intriguing space. Melinda and John Thomas James from M. James Design Group created this gorgeous living room that doubles as a library.

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This pastel lilac hue for this part-living-room, part-home-library was used to help differentiate the older parts of this 1930s home with the newer. Designer Melissa Colgan wanted the freshly reconfigured sections to feel lighter and brighter than the original brick section of the house which skews more saturated and traditional. “We commissioned custom bookshelves to highlight [the client’s] rare and first editions of books like Winnie-the-Pooh and Pinocchio. Then, I suggested we paint the room purple. She said, ‘Let’s try it!'” Colgan says.

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Don’t let the idea of clutter stop you from creating the home library of your dreams—simply install some shelves that allow you to close your books away in a glass case. In his Paris pied-á-terre, designer Garrow Kedigian installed these new built-ins to store away his novels and accessories, creating the antique look with vintage hardware he found at the Paris Flea Market.

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In the guest room of our Whole Home 2023, designer Rasheeda Gray of Gray Space Interiors added a calming, elegant reading corner with two options for seating. With natural light from the window and the glossy ceiling to reflect it, this nook is an ideal spot to curl up with a good book.

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